Healthy Heath

Getting a Little Hungary September 8, 2011

Yesterday was my first day at work! The Fairview counseling department seems like a wonderful group of people to work with. I was definitely made to feel welcome, and I even get my own desk! Very exciting, indeed.

To celebrate a good first two days, I decided to make one of my favorite dinners: Hungarian Goulash.

When I was young, my mum would ask what dish I would like for my birthday dinner. My answer for a very long time was always goulash. Tonight, I decided to make it myself for a treat!

The goulash took quite a long time to make. First, an onion needs to be chopped and sauteed in canola oil. The beef is added in, along with paprika, salt and pepper. This is allowed to cook in the beef’s juices for 45 minutes. The recipe I was following the called for a cup of water and potatoes to be added to the mixture. I was making potato pancakes, so skipped the potato, but added the water. I think, as a consequence, the sauce was very runny. An attempt was made to make it into more of a gravy by adding in some corn starch, but that didn’t seem to do too much. It still tasted good though!

As the sides, we had potato pancakes and homemade applesauce. Applesauce is the easiest, yummiest side that I could think of making. I just cut up three apples into bite-sized chunks. Put them in a medium pot and added in enough water to cover the bottom half of the apple layer. You don’t want so much water that the apples get covered, but enough that the apples don’t just burn on the bottom of the pot. Boil the water until the apples break down. I added in a little more water when I noticed that it was boiling away and the apples still had a lot of structure to them. When the apples were to the consistency I liked, I added in some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

Dinner was delicious, but I seem to be coming down with something, so it’s off to bed for me!